Returning to game: Lots of questions

[Ragin Cajun]

First off, thanks for any input you have here to help me cut down my learning curve.

- Situation: New online league I've joined, modern day, real players. Ratings: 1-20. Finances: On. Scouts: On, Coaches: Off.

-Questions:
1. For an SP: What is the ranking of the three stats in order of priority?
2. For an SP: What is the minimum stamina you look at?
3. For an SP: How many pitches should they have at a minimum?
4. For an SP: What rating should you look for for each pitch at a minimum?
- For 5-8 these are for MR/CL, if there is any different thinking from an SP.
5. For an MR: What is the ranking of the three stats in order of priority?
6. For an MR: How many pitches should they have at a minimum?
7. For an MR: What rating should you look for for each pitch at a minimum?
8. For a CL: Anything different you focus on from a regular MR?
- Next group of questions are regarding batters.
9. What contact rating typically results in a .300 hitter or better (on a 1-20 scale)?
10. What power rating typically results in a 20 HR player? 30 HR player?
11. What is the difference between Eye and K's? What does each affect? (I would view Eye as being able to differentiate between balls and strikes, hence walking more.)
12. What is difference between Speed, Stealing and Baserunning? What does each affect?
- Next group of questions are just general stuff I'd like to understand.
13. With scouts ON, what is the impact on what I see in the game on my team? Is there a place (like older versions) to see "different" ratings based on an average "league" scout?
14. What age do players typically deteriorate? (i.e. Are "steroids" built into the game to have 40 year olds still jacking 50HR or is it back to mid-30's you start to see deterioration?) Of course I realize either way that you will have "exceptions" to the rule. Just wondering at the "norm".
15. Do potential ratings EVER change? What may cause the change?
- For this I see a lot of players with an 11 or 12 potential, very few, if any rookies, with 20 potential, but then I see a lot of veteran developed players with 17-20 current ratings.
16. Is age 28 still the "typical" cutoff to have a player develop or bust if they haven't developed in the minors?

I'm sure I have tons more but this should give me the bare bones to have a grasp on what to look at in trades, extensions, etc.

THANK YOU again to any who take the time to answer these for me. I know it's alot but figured why reinvent the wheel if others already understand these issues.

[Déjà Bru]

Please bear in mind that these answers are subjective. I hope you will get a range of opinions, as I know they are out there for all of these questions.

1a. Stuff. Besides more strikeouts, lower BA against.
1b. Control. It drives me batty when guys issue multiple walks in an inning; it seems invariably to lead to runs scored.
1c. Movement. Important to keep down the long ball, but not as important as the first two, IMO.

2. The actual number that you are perhaps looking for is variable according to the scale used. For ME, using a scale of 1-20, any SP under 10 is not worth starting (the yellow "OK" color scale goes down to 8 but I prefer 10 or higher). SP's with low stamina have trouble putting in the five innings just to qualify for a W. Of course, if I'm in a bind, I will start a guy like this but I'd better have a good long reliever in the bullpen.

3. We just talked about this recently here. Two pitches is not enough. Two green or blue pitches and a red pitch is not enough for a SP (but is OK for a MR). Three high yellow pitches or two green/blue and a yellow third pitch is what I look for, minimum.

4. See above for pitches. What you did NOT ask but should have is the pitcher's ratings for defense and holding runners. Those are really important to his long-term success. Two other good traits to have are high intelligence and high work ethic.

5-7. Same ranking of Stuff/Control/Movement. Needs only two good (green/blue) pitches, however. Two yellow pitches are NOT enough for a MR, in my opinion. Don't forget what I said in 4. about the other ratings and traits.

8. A good closer needs a blue rating for Stuff. Period. He has to have a high K/9 stat and stuff means strikeouts. He needs a green rating in Control as well. A closer who comes on and often walks the first batter is not going to do well. I also look at Velocity; the closer to 100 MPH, the better. Of course, he needs at least two blue/green pitches, one of which is usually the fastball.

9. I should have said this in the beginning, but there are NO GUARANTEES when it comes to ratings in this game. Even with scouts off (100% accurate ratings), other things like personality, injury, or just randomness/chance may be the difference between success and failure. That said, however, guys rated 15 or higher on a 1-20 scale have a good chance to bat .300. The green scale for Contact starts at 13 and players with yellow numbers, 12 or below, will rarely bat that high. Forget about orange and red.

10. I believe what I said in 9. is the same answer here. However, I am reminded of a caveat that applies to both Contact and Power (besides the usual comment about personality; low work ethic probably means high ratings being wasted) which is this: you can have all the batting capability and sheer power in the world, but if you strike out a lot, batting averages and home runs are going to be drastically reduced. So, take my answers for 9. and 10. in conjunction with good ratings in Avoid K's.

11. Good Eye = more walks, higher OBP. Good Avoid K's means less strikeouts.

12. A ballplayer can have outstanding Speed but if he's dumb as a stump about Baserunning, he's not going to take too many extra bases (he also may get doubled up and picked off more frequently). Of course, if he's speedy and knows how to run the bases, he may still not know how to steal bases. For most players, these ratings are generally correlated but some guys are rated high in one or two and low in one or two.

13. Let's take this one in reverse. With Scouts OFF, you get the actual game-calculated, AI-aware, ratings of each player. (Again, bear in mind that even actual ratings do not guarantee expected performance. The trend will be there over time, but short-term, no, not necessarily.) So, with Scouts OFF, you are seeing the same ratings as the AI. When you turn Scouts ON, you introduce a "Fog of War" aspect (which, I THINK, applies to the AI as well; people have asked that and I think it is so) which can be adjusted in Game Setup as to scouting accuracy, from Very Low to Very High. You only see ratings that YOUR scout makes (depending on budget and focus choices that you set for your team). Also, for a second opinion, there is the OSA which is a poor-man's version of scouting; supposedly not as accurate as your own scouts (but very useful if they confirm what you suspect about a player; let's say you have blue/green numbers from your scout and when you switch to OSA and the numbers go even higher, well, that's a good sign).

14. Players age according to algorithms built into the game by the developer and which reflect the trends of the historical or modern era that you are playing. Like so many other things in this game, however, this can be adjusted in Game Setup; look for Batter and Pitcher Aging Speed (as well as Development Speed) and bear in mind that 1.000 means the norm. Now, some guys will retire at 30, some at 35, and some at 40 and beyond with a setting of 1.000; we are talking about averages here. You can reflect "steroids" in your game by tweaking the Aging Speeds upward, but that's about it (aside from fooling around with Player Creation Modifiers and League Totals in League Strategy, that is - a whole other topic - beware!). The only other area in which performance enhancing drugs are addressed in this game is in Suspensions, if you choose to play with that option on.

15. Potential ratings do change, and for various reasons. One reason could be age; another could be injury. A third possibility is something called Talent Change Randomness (another setting in Game Setup with 100 as the default). Sometimes, players get better or worse randomly, depending on this setting. Bear in mind that Potential does not equal Current Ratings, necessarily. Many players never reach their Potential (see Low Work Ethic) and it has been pointed out here that sometimes you will see Current Ratings higher than Potential Ratings when the game (scout) thinks the player is about to take a nosedive for some reason (like age or injury).

16. You're generous. I usually am looking for guys 26 and older in the minors to cull if they are still showing red and orange ratings. Some people here think that's short-sighted because a miracle could still happen (and sometimes does, I guess) but 9 times out of 10, the guy is done by that age if he hasn't developed. Even if he still has high Potential ratings. Certainly by 28, in my book.

I tell you, I enjoy doing this sometimes. It really hones my knowledge of the game, answering questions like these. I just wish I had more time to do it more often.

Let's see if anybody has any different opinions to share.

[Isryion]

1. For an SP: What is the ranking of the three stats in order of priority?
Movement, Control, Stuff (Strikeouts cannot, in this game, make up for walks and home runs) Pitchers can succeed though with any combination of two of the above being good.
2. For an SP: What is the minimum stamina you look at? I've seen SP manage with 3. Usually, though, they're really good. I like 5 or higher.
3. For an SP: How many pitches should they have at a minimum? 3
4. For an SP: What rating should you look for for each pitch at a minimum? I look at GB ratio over these and pay little attention to them as they are closely related to stuff.
- For 5-8 these are for MR/CL, if there is any different thinking from an SP.
5. For an MR: What is the ranking of the three stats in order of priority? Stuff, Control, Movement Relievers come in with men on base often so K's are needed, walks are always bad, and while I don't like them giving up HR either they don't pitch a lot of innings so...See above, though, as relievers can also be good with two good ratings.
6. For an MR: How many pitches should they have at a minimum? Two. More doesn't matter for them as they don't go through the lineup more than once, usually.
7. For an MR: What rating should you look for for each pitch at a minimum? See answer above.
8. For a CL: Anything different you focus on from a regular MR? Nope, just depends on where you want to take him from. Usually he's my 2nd or 3rd best reliever.
- Next group of questions are regarding batters.
9. What contact rating typically results in a .300 hitter or better (on a 1-20 scale)? 14+, but park and other league pitching play a big factor in this
10. What power rating typically results in a 20 HR player? 30 HR player? 12 and 14 or 15, but again, park and pitching influence this.
11. What is the difference between Eye and K's? What does each affect? (I would view Eye as being able to differentiate between balls and strikes, hence walking more.) Poster above answer was excellent
12. What is difference between Speed, Stealing and Baserunning? What does each affect? Poster above answer was excellent
- Next group of questions are just general stuff I'd like to understand.
13. With scouts ON, what is the impact on what I see in the game on my team? Is there a place (like older versions) to see "different" ratings based on an average "league" scout? OSA is not an average scout; they tend to be terrible, but yes, you get a ""2nd opinion" if you want it. I tend to ignore it.
14. What age do players typically deteriorate? (i.e. Are "steroids" built into the game to have 40 year olds still jacking 50HR or is it back to mid-30's you start to see deterioration?) Of course I realize either way that you will have "exceptions" to the rule. Just wondering at the "norm". It really depends on the league. Deja did a good job explaining the development factors. Injury factors also play a part. In one league I'm in with normal development/aging and "normal" injuries, no one over 30 is an all-star caliber hitter because they flame out.
15. Do potential ratings EVER change? What may cause the change?
- For this I see a lot of players with an 11 or 12 potential, very few, if any rookies, with 20 potential, but then I see a lot of veteran developed players with 17-20 current ratings. Yes, as scouts get a different opinion of them, they adjust the player's max potential. This happens with scouts off, too
16. Is age 28 still the "typical" cutoff to have a player develop or bust if they haven't developed in the minors? I tend to see it earlier, like 25, but I've seen some players over that develop more.